I have an old Craftsman saw like that that I used as my primary saw for years before I got my Delta. I still use the Craftsman for driving sanding discs.

The one thing I'd do is find the model and serial number and call the Sears parts number. See if replacement parts are still available. They have a bad habit of dropping parts for older tools. My saw is old enough that they no longer have any parts for it, so I bought another junker just like mine to rob for parts as I needed them- so far I haven't used any parts though. You may be able to use this to get the price down some *grin*